Rock Band 2 First Impressions -Nathan

Fist I would like to thank Chuck for playing the host. He did a wonderful job making sure everyone had food and fun. Second thanks to the other members of the writing staff and John Yan for welcoming me as a normal person and not as the strange scary creature that I am. I guess the disguise is still working. Sentiments aside, let’s get to the nitty gritty. The new guitar controller is hands down my favorite part about Rock Band 2. The face is flatter, the buttons more tactile, the strum bar is responsive (but still smushy), and it’s wireless. Besides the improvements to the instruments I was also pleasantly surprised by the increased difficulty in some of the lead guitar sections. While Rock Band is more about social interaction and playing together Guitar Hero evolved into a game that was more about competition and finger blistering difficulty. Now both seem to be finding a middle ground, offering the fun factors of music rhythm games; competition, social interaction, and balanced gameplay. In fact these two franchises are becoming so similar in their implementation that it won’t really matter which game shoppers by this year. Everyone will have a similar and pleasant experience. For those about to rock, I salute you.